Gun sense symbol: James Brady’s second act built a movement

[SecularMotion]

On March 30, 1981, White House press secretary James Brady was shot along with President Ronald Reagan, a police officer and a Secret Service agent by would-be assassin John Hinckley Jr.

Mr. Brady, who was partially paralyzed after taking a bullet to his head, died Monday at 73. But getting shot wasn’t the end of the story for Mr. Brady. Though the bullet damaged the right side of his brain, he devoted his life to advancing legislation that would result in stricter gun controls.

Mr. Brady and his wife, Sarah, were frustrated by the weak background checks that had made it possible for Mr. Hinckley, a mentally troubled college dropout, to buy a gun for $29 from a pawnshop while using fake identification.

In 1994, a dozen years of lobbying and building a movement dedicated to sensible gun limits finally paid off. Congress passed the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act that tightened background checks and required waiting periods for some gun buyers. President Bill Clinton signed it enthusiastically.

http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/editorials/2014/08/07/Gun-sense-symbol-James-Brady-s-second-act-built-a-movement/stories/201408310006#ixzz39hNl3Txo

[DonP]

1. Ah, that explains the broad grass roots membership

The Brady Group was so "successful" for over a decade we couldn't find a single DU member that was a dues paying member.

[Eleanors38]

2. Actually, this tragedy marked the end of any "movement."

There really wasn't much of one, despite some high-profile GOP banners like Reagan, Bloomberg, Krauthammer, and Brady himself. From then on, the GOPers reacted to the growing power of the 2A grass roots, and the banners lost all political purchase in the Repubs. Democrats were left with the task of explaining the bad smell in the room.

Another reason, mostly unrelated: The controller/banner outlook depended on the now-shrunken MSM mass model to inflate its overwrought "influence." That mass-media model was the ONLY significant force in the controller outlook. It has been collapsing, coincidentally, from about the same time.

[VScott]

3. Yeah... a bowel movement.

[ileus]

4. 29 bucks...that won't touch an RG these days.